Outside Dining Tables that Comply with ADA Laws During Covid 19 Pandemic
Outside Dining Surfaces and Seating
Dining Surfaces in public places should comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) laws whether they are inside or outside the entity facility. Dining surfaces include, but are not limited to, bars, tables, lunch counters, and booths. The photo on the right is representative of outdoor dining surfaces and seating.
The Covid 19 pandemic of 2020-2021 has caused the dining and bar industries to change their business models significantly. Due to the circumstances under which these entities can operate during the pandemic, many dining entities have increased their exterior/outside dining surface counts significantly. In some urban areas the local municipality has closed streets and allowed dining businesses to spread out their dining tables onto the streets. This has helped these businesses increase their capacity to provide safer seating for patrons who prefer to dine out. However, this new arrangement still should comply with the ADA laws.
Temporary Installations Still Must Comply with the ADA
The 1991 ADA Standards and the 2010 ADA Standards apply to fixed or built-in elements of buildings, structures, site improvements, and pedestrian routes or vehicular ways located on a site, including temporary installations. Dining tables that are not fastened to the floor or a wall are not considered fixed. Therefore, technically speaking, if the dining tables at the exterior of the restaurant are not fixed in position, they are not required to be compliant with the ADA laws. However, the US Department of Justice (DOJ) has recommended that restaurant entities that take advantage of this exterior option for dining seating also make a good faith effort to comply with the ADA requirements. The ADA laws cannot anticipate every option entities may have for making their goods and/or services available to the public. But, the DOJ also expects entities to apply the principles of the ADA laws for reasonable accommodations as long as doing so does not incur undue burden. This includes temporary installations as represented by the graphic on the left. Owners, operators, and tenants of facilities have an obligation for readily achievable barrier removal under the ADA.
2010 ADA Standards 206.2.5, 226 and 902 provide guidance on dining surfaces to include:
the accessible route to dining areas
the number of accessible dining surfaces required
dispersion of dining and work surface installations
the clear space at a dining surface
the height requirements of a dining surfaces
In restaurants an accessible route should be provided to all dining areas including outdoor dining areas. The common requirements for accessible routes is a width of 36 inches minimum, firm and slip resistant flooring, and mostly level surfaces. Dining tables installed on a street will probably require patrons to cross a curb to go from the sidewalk to the surface of the street. Curbs are commonly approximately 6 inches in vertical elevation change, which is excessive when considering the requirements for an accessible route.
2010 ADA Standard 303 covers the requirements for changes in level of accessible walking surfaces as follows: A change in level of ½ inch is permitted to be ¼ inch vertical plus ¼ inch beveled. However, in no case may the combined change in level exceed ½ inch. Changes in level exceeding ½ inch must comply with [Standards] 405 (Ramps) or 406 (Curb Ramps). The graphic below is representative of these Standards.
ADA Compliant Change in Level of a Walking Surface
So in order to comply with the Standards above, a dining establishment that adds dining table seating on the street in front of their facility should take into account the route to these dining surfaces.
The number of accessible dining surfaces required is based on the total number of dining surfaces in each separate dining area at the entity. Interior dining and exterior dining are considered two different dining areas in part because they offer two different dining experiences. What can happen with this new exterior dining is that some of the interior dining tables and chairs are temporarily moved to the street for exterior dining. Lets look at an example.
Let’s assume a dining establishment had 40 dining tables inside the restaurant and 3 dining tables on the sidewalk outside the restaurant before the pandemic. As a result of the pandemic, the street was closed to vehicular traffic and the restaurant was allowed to move 18 dining tables to the street, leaving 22 inside.
Where dining surfaces are provided for the consumption of food or drink, at least 5 percent [rounded UP, but at least 1] of the seating spaces and standing spaces at the dining surfaces should comply with the ADA Standards. This calculation is applied to each separate dining area. So before the pandemic this restaurant should have had 2 ADA accessible dining surfaces inside and 1 outside the restaurant, minimum, for a total of 3 accessible dining surfaces.
But based on our numbers above the dining establishment now has 21 dining surfaces outside and 22 inside. Five percent of 21 is 1.05, which must be rounded up to 2, and that is the new requirement for ADA accessible dining surfaces at the exterior of this restaurant. Five percent of 22 interior tables is 1.1, which must be rounded up to 2, so 2 interior tables should still be accessible, bringing the total number of accessible dining surfaces at the restaurant to 4.
Furthermore, dining surfaces required to comply with the ADA Standards should be dispersed throughout the space or facility containing dining surfaces. Dispersion should consider the types of tables, proximity to other features such as exterior windows or a buffet line, privacy, distance to toilet rooms, etc. So in our pandemic-style restaurant above, we now have exterior dining where patrons can sit at tables on the sidewalk or on the street. Since two accessible dining surfaces are recommended outside, it would be best to disperse one on the sidewalk and one on the street.
A clear floor space complying with the ADA Standards positioned for a forward approach should be provided to all accessible dining surfaces. Knee and toe clearance complying with the ADA Standards should be provided. The photo/graphic below is representative of a clear space at an accessible dining surface.
Clear Space at a Dining Surface
The tops of dining surfaces should be 28 inches minimum and 34 inches maximum above the finish floor or ground. The graphic below is representative of this Standard.
Dining Surface Height Requirement